MOVIE NEWS – Mattel thanks fans for their “patience,” but could face serious legal trouble over porn links on Wicked doll box…
“Something just takes over me and when it does, bad things happen,” says Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba in the musical Wicked, and a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed today over the adult film connection could be a very bad thing for Mattel.
Wicked was a major box office hit and received critical acclaim. But now the movie starring Erivo and Ariana Grande is embroiled in a potential class action lawsuit over a porn link on related merchandise.
“On or about November 11, 2024, Plaintiff purchased a Wicked Doll for her minor daughter,” according to seven lawsuits filed by Holly Ricketson in federal court in California yesterday.
“After opening the box that contained the Wicked Doll, Plaintiff’s minor daughter used an iPhone to visit the website shown on Defendant’s packaging,” reads the photo-illustrated petition against the toy giant. “To her absolute shock, the website, ‘Wicked.com’, had nothing to do with the Wicked Doll. Rather, Wicked.com pasted scenes of pornographic advertisements across her phone screen.”
“These scenes were hardcore, full on nude pornographic images depicting actual intercourse, and can be available for an in-camera review by the court as necessary,” – adds the claim of the jury process focusing on Mattel. “Plaintiff’s minor daughter immediately showed her mother the photographs and both were horrified by what they said. If Plaintiff had been aware of such an inappropriate defect in the Product, she would not have purchased it.”
Beyond the shock of the footage, the plaintiff’s problem seems to be that Mattel has never offered “any refund for consumers who had already purchased the dolls.”
The complaint, which claims “the controversy exceeds $5,000,000.00,” seeks class action damages and various unspecified damages from the makers of Barbie and Hot Wheels over the widely publicized SNAFU. Universal is not named as a defendant, nor are any people associated with the film.
Mattel quickly pulled the typographically flawed dolls from Target and other stores last month when word of the deeply ill-conceived relationship broke. “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this. Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children. Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel Customer Service for further information.”
Universal, which is breaking records with its adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical directed by Jon M. Chu, did not respond to a request for comment about today’s potential class action lawsuit against XXX.
Mattel responds to Wicked porn scandal
The company declined to comment on the lawsuit. However, it did issue the following statement Monday: “The Wicked Dolls have returned for sale with correct packaging at retailers online and in stores to meet the strong consumer demand for the products. The previous misprint on the packaging in no way impacts the value or play experience provided by the product itself in the limited number of units sold before the correction.”
“We express our gratitude to our consumers and retailers for their understanding and patience while we worked to remedy the issue.”
Wicked Pictures, an independent adult film company founded in 1993, was the debut studio of adult film superstar Jenna Jameson. The company was mentioned several times in Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial earlier this year, as Wicked Pictures was one of the sponsors of the celebrity golf tournament where the former and future POTUS met Stormy Daniels, who was working at the event to promote the company – the rest, as they say, is history…
Source: Reuters, The Guardian
